Thursday, January 7, 2010

I'm taking the Pro Baking 1 series at the New School of Cooking in Culver City (Los Angeles) this fall/winter. For Class 4, it was all about the Tarts, Pies, Cobblers and Crisps. I'm okay with three out of four of these...but pie crusts make me shake in fear.

However, I did it! I made a pie! From scratch! With my own hands! Oh yes, Pies Rock and I'm not afraid of you anymore!!!

We made an all butter pie crust by getting carpal pie syndrome...blending the butter and flour mixture with our fingers until the butter bits were small and the consistency of wet sand. Then we quickly added ice water and mixed it together for a bit. All done by hand with just one bowl. After a rest, I rolled out a crust with a French rolling pin (the only one to use for pie per the instructor). We used 6 very tart Granny Smith apples for the filling.

In class, the instructor emphasized that the artistry of baking is adjusting the flavoring to highlight the ingredient, or do the best with what you have. If you have a fresh-picked apple from the Farmer's Market, you need to leave it alone. If it tastes great, don't be adding flavorings to cover it up. However, if you have cold storage apples and cheaper ingredients, then you might need to bump up the cinnamon and vanilla. Knowing how to highlight something naturally delicious, and flavoring something that isn't at its peak...that's the art of baking.

The edge is simple - just pressing the edges together with a finger. I like the motto...pay more attention to the center and not the edges!

I made an Apple Pie! Whoo Hoo!

Citrus Tart (Lemon and Lime)

We made a sweet tart dough by hand as well. Obviously, the sweet tart dough is a bit more forgiving. It can get ripped up and you can press it into the pan. I learned that it is better to press in pieces than re-roll. Don't re-roll. We blind baked the tart shell.

I love this photo of our tarts out of the oven! There are 12 people in the class.

The instructor also demonstrated making a crisp and cobbler...that we all ate with homemade ice cream! I've made both in the past so I'm glad we concentrated on the crusts in class.

Next class...we move onto Chocolate and Cakes. Sweet. After a two-week holiday break, I'm looking forward to going back to class on Sunday. :)

18
comments:

Love the presentation of the apple pie and it looks pretty darn good but that lemon tart has caught my eye! I have some lemons to use up and that might be just the ticket for them! Love the class your taking. If only my town would offer such a class...

I remember you mentioning your fear of pie crust and now have a beautiful apple pie! I just made one too with a lattice topping just to practice. The photos didn't come out as pretty as yours. The tart and cobbler look fantastic as well. Now we will get to see a series of pies on here, right? Haha

I love the idea of the "art" of baking. I find it hard to agree when people insist baking is ALL about "science" and forget the art aspect! It's a creative pursuit, anyway you slice it (pun intended!). Your pie is just gorgeous, as are the tarts!

Since I was attempting to make pie crust myself with no tools last night... I have to ask:

How did you go about blending the butter and flour by hand if you didn't have a processor or pastry cutter? Fork? Fingers? I attempted using fingers to have my butter begin breaking badly with the flour...